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Resource Usage Monitoring

Internet delivery of video services opens up the possibility of users engaging in fraudulent activities (e.g. by sharing of username/password credentials). Content providers and distributors are contractually obligated to prevent such abuse. To be able to detect such activity, a system that can track content usage across service providers is required. Such a system should be capable of collecting real-time data that can then be utilized to detect abuse and any system put in place should be capable of allowing the service provider to stop an on-going delivery of content in real-time. To enable abuse detection, the Online Resource Usage Monitoring Protocol (RUM) specification allows data to be collected and made available to detect abuse such as:

Active streams per user/account

Active devices per user/account

Active IP addresses per user/account

Active streams per user/account per IP address

Active devices per user/account per IP address

The RUM specification also proposes ways to collect real-time data from the applications used to access the content. Collecting metrics on consumers viewing habits, preferences, types of shows viewed, and other data, together with demographics, geographies and other categories is desirable for a variety of reasons such as providing a more intuitive/personalized experience to the user, understanding the popularity of certain programming and tailoring advertising based upon user preferences, viewing habits, choice of programs and so on.